When Woe Meets Time
by Shmeowzow
Summary: Laney Monette has always been different, and with the help of a strange man that comes flying into her life out of nowhere, she may just find out why. One thing is for certain, both of their lives will be forever changed. 9th Doctor/OC.
1. Laney Feels

Laney Monette hadn't always known she was different. When she was small, she thought perhaps everyone could do the things she seemed able to do. See the things she saw in her head; feel emotions that couldn't possibly be hers. It wasn't until she was eleven or so that she realized something may be wrong with her.

She'd been at a sleep over with her best friends, Becky and Megan. Megan was her usual silly old self, but Becky had been acting strange all night. Laney could feel waves of sadness radiate from her mate from all the way across the living room.

Sitting down beside her, her tiny green night gown wrinkling at the edges of her legs, she asked Becky what was wrong.

The girl shook her head so furiously her hair came loose of it's tie, and fell to frame her small face. "It's nothing." She'd said. But Laney knew she was lying, and not just by her obviously uncomfortable body language. Before Becky could stop her, Laney held her own hand out and placed it on top of hers, while Megan sat across the room from them, puzzled at the exchange.

Laney gasped as images and feelings rushed into her head. Terror, anxiety, and pain; it was such a painful experience, the scene making way to its end in her mind. When she opened her eyes again, a single tear rolled down her soft, supple cheek. When she had a mind to speak again, she looked into her friend's little blue eyes and said "I am so, so sorry."

Becky's eyes widened and with a hiss she yanked her hand out from under Laney's. "I hate you! Don't ever speak to me again, you freak!"

Laney was taken aback. She had no idea what she'd done wrong, and even Megan's mouth hung agape, still perched on an armchair across the room.

Becky had called her parents and asked them to take her home. She never spoke to Laney or Megan again.

Laney had watched her friend climb into her father's grey Range Rover as rain beat against the window of Megan's house. Beside her, Megan asked "What happened? What happened when you touched her hand?"

The vehicle moved further and further away from the cul de sac the house sat in the center of, its headlights cutting through the darkness like a blade, marred only by the rain that shone through them.

Laney shrugged her shoulders, replying "She wouldn't tell me what was wrong with her, so I saw it."

Megan's little brown eyes grew wider that ever, her dark eyelashes outstanding against her pale, freckled skin. "You did what? What do you mean you saw what was wrong with her? You can only know stuff like that if people say it out loud."

Laney looked into her friend's eyes, and suddenly she knew; this thing, whatever it was, that she could do, it wasn't something she was supposed to be able to.

"Nevermind." Laney said, sliding down against the wall and hugging her knees to her chest. Her little friend, stubborn as ever, wouldn't let it go. "Well, what happened to her? Why was she so sad?"

Shaking her head again, Laney replied "It's not my secret to tell."

Truthfully, at that age, she didn't even know how to put into words the horrible things that had been happening to Becky in her own home. She could still feel the lingering melancholy from her now ex-best friend still swimming around in her psyche. It had been her first major encounter with her abilities, and neither her, nor the other two girls present would ever forget that night. Not even Becky, no matter how much she wanted to make herself do so.

In her dream, she was in an elevator. She only needed to go one floor down, but when she hit the button, all of the others lit up with it. The door only closed halfway before the lift began to descend. Laney pressed herself up against the back of the small room, getting as far away from the gaping door as she could. She could see each floor that went by, and the space between them. Then the lift shook, and began to fall.

Laney woke up with a migraine that seemingly threatened to split her skull in two from the inside. Awful as it sounds, this was a regular occurrence for her; she'd had headaches almost constantly since she was very small. It was a rare day she didn't either wake up with one, or have it sneak up on her during the day.

She rolled over and slapped at her alarm clock until it stopped making offensive noises. When she peeped from under her lashes, she saw "9:30" glaring at her in bright red text. She groaned, smashing her head back into her pillow. She'd forgotten she had class today. One of only two classes she was able to take; she didn't have money to put herself through any more school right now.

While she was getting dressed and ready, Megan called her on her cell. Laney answered and put her on speaker while she brushed her teeth.

"Hey, Jacob and I are stopping by the donut shop before class, do you want anything?"

"Yeashmoofh, I shidnnolosh nord moshier" Laney mumbled through all the frothy toothpaste in her mouth.

"Uh…what?"

Laney rolled her eyes, spitting the mess out of her mouth into the sink.

"I said Yes. Could you grab me a kolache and a monster?"

"Oh! Sure. The blue kind, right?"

Laney smiled. Her bestie knew her all too well. "Yep. See you in an hour."

"See ya."

Laney sat in her history 1302 class, bored out of her skull, staring at her 9 billion year old professor who always wore the stupidest bowties and talked about as fast as it took to connect to the internet using dial-up.

She and Megan both hated this class, but it was a required core for a degree from the community college they attended.

They were learning about the Civil War. The professor droned on about Robert E. Lee and the Battle of Bull run. Laney doodled in her spiral where she was supposed to be scribing notes. Class almost over when Laney felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. That familiar fuzzy feeling that tugged at the perimeters of her consciousness arose, and she felt something…different; something alien. It began to push harder on her mind; she felt a twinge of emotions she didn't even know were possible.

Megan saw the troubled look of concentration on her best friend's face, and tried to get her attention without alerting the teacher. When all else failed, she touched Laney's hand, causing the girl to gasp. Laney looked at Megan, wide eyed. She'd zoned out so completely that she hadn't even remembered her friend had been right next to her. Stealing another glance at the professor, Megan soundlessly mouthed the words "what's wrong?" to her dear friend.

Laney didn't even know, to be honest. The feelings had come from nowhere; usually she didn't get any kind of reading that strong unless she was touching someone. She may have been confused, but she knew one thing had to be certain. Meeting her best friend's familiar soft brown eyes, she whispered "I think something's coming."

Megan had little more than seconds to look befuddled before there were a few knocks behind them, followed by the heavy classroom door being pushed open. Everyone turned around in their seats, or at least craned their necks to get a look at who had interrupted the history lecture they were all dying to be done with.

"'Scuse me, sorry to barge in. I'm filling in for Vinny today. He told me you'd been havin' some problems with pests in this wing?"

He had a very thick, unrefined English accent, and a few kid in the room snickered, making snide comments about it under their breath. Laney glared at one of them and said "That's rude." She didn't even know the guy, but it still got on her nerves when idiots picked on people who were different without provocation.

The student told her to kiss his ass in response.

Laney looked back to the replacement maintenance guy, only to find his eyes were fixed on her. His gaze was a bit unnerving, but she met his stare in kind. Something pulled at the edge of her mind; something in those eyes, drawing her down. His eyes were far too old for his body to possibly possess them.

The old professor cleared his throat, causing the stranger in the door to break eye contact with Laney.

"Yes, we've been hearing a lot of strange scratching noises coming from the walls and ceiling of late."

The man moved further into the room and said "I see. Mind if I take a look?" He was about to shut the door behind him before the professor interjected. "That's quite impossible right now, sir, I'm in the middle of a lecture. You'll have to come back when there isn't a class going on."

The stranger nodded. "Alright then. I'll try back later."

He exited back into the hallway where he'd come from, pausing only for a moment to glance back at Laney, winking at her before closing the door behind him.

She hadn't realized how fast her heart had been beating until silence filled the room and she could hear it in her ears. Was that man the reason she'd had the strange feeling a few moments ago? It had come and gone with his proximity; she couldn't think of anything else that would have been cause for it. The lecture continued for another 45 minutes, but Laney couldn't pay attention. She was lost in her head. Lost in the feelings she'd felt before that man walked through the door, lost in the complete timeless void that was just behind his eyes. What could have possibly made them look so old, so lost?

He'd said he was filling in for Vinny, one of the maintenance men, but Laney knew Vinny, talked to him quite often, and Fridays were his day off. He was never here on Friday. So what was that guy doing, why did he lie? He wasn't dressed like any maintenance guy she'd ever seen, he'd had a leather jacket on.

Laney was still collecting her thoughts when the professor dismissed the classroom. Megan had already gotten up to leave before Laney realized it was time to go. "Well, I've gotta go. I've got my other class." She said, as Laney gathered her things and stood up to follow her out of the room. "Alright, Megs, see ya later."

The girls parted ways, Megan headed to her next class, and Laney headed toward the parking lot. There was a huge crowd of people waiting in line for the elevator, so she decided to use the stairwell instead. Not that she'd want to use the lift anyways, after that insane dream she'd woken up from this morning.

The stairwells at this college were so creepy. They were poorly lit and maintained, and always smelled of mildew. Kids left their trash all over the place. Laney always felt like she was in a horror movie in the stairwell, running for her life from some manic serial murderer. All she could hear was the echo of her sneakers slapping the cold concrete as she descended.

Then she heard something else. A shuffling; of feet, perhaps? Then a high pitched screeching noise that sounded kind of like a shrill alarm, but not quite so loud. Laney rushed to the bottom of the stairwell and turned the corner that lead to the supply closet that was under the stairs.

She could sense someone there, but the bulb above the supply closet door must have burned out, because it was shrouded in darkness.

"Hey, who's over there?" Laney hoped her voice betrayed nothing of how scared she was. More shuffling noises, and then "Daft old thing" in a familiar odd cadence.

"Who are you, what are you doing?"

Still no answer. She thought about running away, but her curiosity was getting the best of her.

"I'll get campus security-"

Her sentence was cut of by the weird screech again, this time accompanied by a bright blue light. Suddenly, the bulb above the closet door sparked to life, and there, bathed in it's glow, was the strange man in the leather jacket from earlier.

"There. That's better."

He grinned widely at her. He was holding some sort of metal device that looked like a pen of some sort, but a bit bigger.

"It's you!" She wasn't as surprised to see him as she must have sounded. She'd had a feeling it could only be the odd intruder from earlier.

"Seems that way, yeah." He was still grinning at her, not at all annoyed that she had interrupted him from…whatever he was doing.

"What are you doing down here? You nearly scared me to death."

He sighed, putting the pen like object up inside of his jacket.

"I told you. I'm filling in for Vinny. Trying to figure out what's been goin' on in the walls. Can't seem to get this door open, though."

She shook her head. "You're not filling in for Vinny. What are you really doing, and how'd you make that light come back on?"

"How would you know who I'm filling in for? You the substitute police?"

Laney continued answering his questions, even though she knew she should be reporting him to campus security for breaking and entering, and impersonating a maintenance man. She kept her distance from him, still a little wary of his intentions.

"I know Vinny. He never works on Fridays. What are you doing here, why did you lie?"

He shrugged his shoulders with a defeated sigh.

"I swear. Some of you humans are so nosy. Can't keep yourselves out of trouble to save your own lives."

Before Laney could question why he'd referred to her to her as a human as if he was not, when he very clearly was, she heard a scratching that sounded a lot like metal on metal above her. Snapping her head upward, she hissed, "What was that?"

"I don't know. Maybe if you'd leave me alone instead of hasslin' me, I could figure it out."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, shut up."

His eyes widened. "You American girls sure are cheeky!"

The corner of her mouth moved upward in a lopsided grin. "What, never seen a girl who will tell you off?"

Before he could answer, they heard the noise again, but this time it was louder. Closer, maybe. Both of their gazes averted back to the ceiling, where the scratching noise continued.

"I think it's coming from that air vent over there." Laney whispered, pointing up to where the vent was located in the corner of the ceiling.

The stranger began to walk over to where the vent was, when there was a huge crash that shook the whole building, tossing Laney to the floor. The lights in the stairwell flickered and went out. Frantic voices could be heard on the other side of the door that led out into the hallway. Laney could feel something awful in her head and chest. Absolute terror and pain flooded her thoughts.

She cried out when she felt an arm wrap around her waist and help her up off of the ground. Would be Vinny substitute held her steady against him for a moment. "Thank you." She whispered. He told her to shush. He was listening for something. All she could hear was the faint thudding of his heart in his chest that was pressed against her ear. Wait a minute…there was something funny about his heart beat; it was very irregular. Before she could wonder any more about it, he had let her go and began towards the doorway out of the stairwell.

When he opened it, light flooded the area, and Laney raised an arm to her face. She still heard voices and cried from outside. When she lowered her arm he was gone, out into the melee.

After steadying her mind and trying to shake off the need to vomit from the flood of emotions she was picking up, Laney threw open the door and followed behind him.

Laney had to cover her mouth when she witnessed the scene in front of her. The need to vomit was definitely not adverted. One of the college's elevator's had crashed. There were fireman trying to pry the doors open and get the kids out of there.

Students that were lucky enough to have taken the stairs were running around frantically, on their cell phones, crying, hugging each other, hoping that their friends inside were okay.

Laney backed up against the nearest wall and sank down onto the floor. Her head was swimming with feelings that were not her own; it was making her incredibly dizzy. She was seeing doubles as she watched the strange man try and help the fireman get the lift's doors pried open.

Laney heard a great roaring crunch and her eyes snapped open. She hadn't even realized they'd been shut.

The men had finally gotten the doors open, but she wasn't at an angle where she could see inside the lift, and she wasn't sure she wanted to. In the corner of her eye she saw something scurry out of the elevator that no one else seemed to notice; no one, except the strange man, who proceeded to point his pen light thingy at it.

The pen made a funny noise, and the creature, whatever it was, stopped moving. He picked it up and put it in his jacket pocket, then began towards the exit of the building.

"H-h-hey!" She yelled in his direction, but he failed to turn around.

""Hey!" Laney reached her arm towards him, in the hopes that it would do any good to make him hear her. "Please don't leave me here!"

She didn't want to be here. All of these people, their emotions; it was all too much. She had to get out, but she couldn't do it on her own.

He must have finally heard her, because he spun on his heel and looked around. When their eyes finally met, and he realized who was calling for him, he got the most piteous look on his face.

She could tell he wanted to help her, but thought for some reason that he shouldn't; that he should leave her be. Disappear from her life like he never was.

For a moment she thought he would turn around and leave her here, alone, but she saw something flash behind his eyes. Felt something radiate from his mind to hers, and whatever it was propelled him forward. Back towards the fray, to where she was sitting on the ground while people milled about around her.

"Come on, love." He said, before picking her up bridal style and continuing back in his original direction. Laney glanced back over his shoulder and wished she hadn't. They were dragging students out of the lift, some conscious, some not. All of them were covered in blood. One or two were cradling very clearly broken appendages. She squinted her eyes back shut, trying to erase all of the images from her mind. Trying to forget how scared she was feeling, how sad. The phantom pain she could feel all throughout her body even though she herself was not hurt.

As she rested her head up against the stranger's chest, his frantic and irregular heartbeat thudding against her ear once again, she felt a monstrous headache coming on.

As they walked, out and away from the building now, destination unknown; at least to her, she willed herself to sleep in the odd man's grasp.

That very odd man who'd intruded on her history class, who'd made a light bulb magically spark back to life. That very odd man who'd carried her away when she'd asked him for help.


	2. What Are You?

When Laney came to, she was in a bed, but she could tell right off the bat that it wasn't her own; it was much too comfortable for that to be true. Her head felt like someone was currently taking a hacksaw to its interior.

When her eyelids fluttered open, they danced around the darkened room, taking in her unfamiliar surroundings. The wallpaper was a soft, light green. There was a wardrobe in one corner, a bookcase in the other, with a comfy looking overstuffed chair right next to it. Two bed-side tables were on either side of the four-post bed she was currently occupying. There were no windows to speak of.

Laney slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position, and was automatically rueful of the decision to do so. Her head began a slow, steady throb, and a seemingly uncontrollable bout of coughing took her over from somewhere deep inside her lungs. Recovering slowly, she swung her legs, still clothed just the same as she remembered, over the bed, and prayed she wasn't coming down with something.

She crossed the room and looked down at the door, puzzled. There was no knob. Was someone trying to hold her hostage? She knocked on the metal barrier, ran her hands along the seams of it, even tried just pushing it open, all to no avail. Her hands skimmed the paneling once more, when suddenly she heard two beeps, and the door swung right open. Looking down, she noticed what must have been some kind of heat sensitive panel in lieu of a doorknob. She thought it was weird to have such odd technology on a simple bedroom door, but as she walked down the hallway it only got weirder.

The paneling on the walls seemed like something out of a Sci-Fi flim, and the corridors were designed for efficient travel, not decorationally or aesthetically taken into account, like in a regular homestead. It was all very foreign and hospltal-like. She rounded one corner and came upon another strange looking door. Just as she was about to lay a hand on it, it opened of its own volition into an even more baffling room. Her eyes travelled the space, taking in its high ceilings, railing, and strange walls, which looked much like the ones in the hall had; and she had no idea what was supposed to be going on at the center of it all.

"Why do I feel like I've woken up on a space ship?" She said aloud, to no one in particular, assuming she was alone. To her surprise, a disembodied voice answered "Probably because you have."

Laney looked around, trying to hone in on where the voice had originated, when would-be Vinny popped up from behind the baffling center console of the room, grin spread wider than ever.

"It's you…again." She sputtered, a bit confused.

"Yep, seems like it. Again." He was still smiling, and Laney was beginning to find it a bit unnerving.

"So this is…" she trailed off, her finger pointing around the room at nothing in particular.

"My ship, yeah." He sat back down and continued doing whatever it was he had been doing before. Laney trailed around the huge console-engine thingy to where he was seated, looking at something vaguely metallic in his hands.

"So we're on like, your boat or something?" It didn't seem like a boat, at leas none she'd ever seen. And she didn't feel as if they were on water.

"Nope. You were right the first time." He didn't look up from the little thing he was poking at as he answered her.

"Uh, a space ship? Aside from that being ridiculous, this doesn't really look like a space ship." This conversation was going nowhere. This insane man thought he had a space ship.

"How would you know, you been on many space ships?" He looked up at her questioningly and then back down again at his work when she shook her head at him.

"It's not really a space ship anyways, at least not like humans think. It's more of a space-time machine. It's called a T.A.R.D.I.S."

Laney scratched her head and let that one go. Too many impending questions, and more important things to worry about right this minute.

"Okay, space man, what exactly am I doing in your space-time Tardis thing?"

A deep whizzing noise radiated from the center console, and the man looked up at it, amused.

"Oh, she didn't like that very much."

"She? What are you talking about, she? Why did you bring me here?" Laney was confused, her head hurt, and she was feeling a little sick to her stomach. All of this crazy guy's shenanigan's really weren't helping her out right this second.

"_She_ is my ship, and _you_ are here because you asked me to help you." He said, staring up at her, into her eyes for the first time since they'd begun talking.

"Oh yeah." Laney breathed, remembering the horrible accident that had happened at her school; remembering the pain, the sadness, and fear. She remembered seeing him walk away, and begging him not to leave her there at ground zero by herself.

"Oh yeah is right. Now will ya quit gabberin' on so I can figure out what this little guy is and what, exactly, he was doing in the lift at your school."

Letting all of the questionably unexplainable things go for now, Laney sat down next to the man, cross legged, and watched him work on the tiny little metallic thing in his hands. It looked a bit like a large scorpion, but he had it opened up with wires hanging out of it.

Laney watched his blue eyes concentrate on the creature, or robot, whatever it was; watched his eyebrows furrow and his lips purse with agitation. After a long haul of silence, she asked "What's your name?"

Still poking around at the insides of the little thing, he replied "I'm called The Doctor."

"The Doctor, is that like a nickname?"

"Sort of, yeah."

"What, don't you have a real one?"

"I used to. But now I'm just called The Doctor." His eyes betrayed no emotion as he continued his tinkering. Laney left it. No use in trying to pry his real name out of him if he didn't want to give it to her. She'd just feel like a bit of a fool referring to him as just "Doctor".

"So what's your real name then?" He asked, making Laney jump a little. He hadn't said anything for a few moments.

"Oh, you want my real name, but I can't hear yours?" She asked, smirking at him, but he still didn't look up. He was pointing his little blue pen light at the thing now.

"You can give me whatever name you want, just tell me what to call you."

Laney rolled her eyes and replied with a smile that was all but a tad contrived, "My real name is Laney Monette."

He stood, suddenly, plopping the little scorpion thing down on the center console and pointing his pen at it one last time.

"Nice to meet you, Laney Monette. Now lets see what this little thing was up to."

The Doctor connected two little wires inside the scorpion thing's body, and a projection lit up the far wall Laney was facing. The Doctor turned and sat down next to her, eyes on the pictures moving in front of them.

There was the school yard, parking lot, students milling about, what looked like the insides of the ventilation system as the school, wires, insulation, and then, the top of Megan's head. Laney pointed at the wall in front of them. "That's my best friend Megan. Well, her hair, anyways."

The Doctor was silent, eyes on the projection. The creature seemed to be peering through the slats of a vent in the ceiling of one of the classrooms. A second later it appeared to have wiggled its way through the slats and onto the ceiling. There was no audio.

The frame widened a bit, and Laney squinted at what was almost certainly her own head. "But that…that's me. That's me and Megan in our History class."

The Doctor nodded. "Seems that way."

Laney shook her head. "That can't have been from today…this must be, I dunno, at least a few weeks ago. I haven't worn my hair like that in a while."

He looked at her and smiled. "Looks better how it is now anyways." Getting up, the Doctor pointed his pen back at the tiny machine, and the images began to fast forward. Throughout the random scenery, and wiring, the only actual faces Laney could see it zoning in on were Megan's and her own. But why would it be videotaping her and Megan? Was this supposed to be some kind of prank?

The last scene played out was of the creature creeping inside the elevator shaft, and looking down through a bit of loose paneling to reveal who all was inside of it. Shortly after, the projection fizzled out and the wall went blank. Laney looked up at the Doctor, more confused than ever. "I don't understand. Why was that thing following me? Is it what made the elevator crash?"

The Doctor nodded. "More than likely. I don't know why it's been following you in particular, but I guess it's fortuitous that you found me, isn't it?"

She shrugged. "Why is that?"

He beamed down at her. "Because I'm the only one that can help you find out."

"Why?" She didn't know what else to say. It had been a really long day.

"Because I'm the Doctor. I was on my way to Chonofite 9 when my Tardis locked onto an alien transmission on its way to a satellite. Whatever this thing is, whoever sent it out, they were gathering information on you, Laney, and having it sent to them via satellite transmission. When I landed, I tracked the signal back to your school, and here we are."

Laney didn't know if she would ever be able to comprehend what was going on, or if her head would ever stop hurting, so she just went with it.

"But how did you know about Vinny? Why were you pretending to be a maintenance guy?"

He shrugged. "Personnel files. Easiest excuse to poke around in the walls."

"Okay, so there've been little robots following me around, videotaping me and sending the information to a satellite, where who knows who is getting it?"

He nodded, looking down at her, concerned. "Apparently."

"Okay, well, why did it make the elevator crash? Why would it hurt all of those people?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. May have thought you were in the lift. May have been an accident."

Laney shook her head, rubbing her eyes. This was all too much. She began coughing again, more violently this time.

The Doctor knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder, asking softly "You okay?"

She coughed a few more times into her fist and nodded. "I'll be fine. I may be getting sick. You should probably back up, if you don't want to catch it." She said, offering a half baked smile.

He shook his head. "Don't worry 'bout me. My immune system can handle a lot more than a human's. Doesn't even work the same way, not really."

She looked into his eyes. Those eyes, that held…something. Timeless, and dark. The same thing she'd seen in the classroom, and when he'd turned to save her when she called for him.

"So, if you're not human…what are you?"


	3. Bigger on the Inside

"Well if you're a Time Lord, or whatever, why do you sound like you're from the U.K.?"

The Doctor shrugged, handing Laney a glass of water. He had just got done explaining his alien origins and physiology to her after they had relocated to the Tardis' dining area.

"Spend a lot of time there. Lot of rifts and such in that area, attracts a lot of alien attention."

Laney wasn't even going to ask what a rift was. She was pretty sure she'd find out eventually, in any case. So far The Doctor had told her that though he looked predominantly human, at least on the outside, he was in fact, a member of an ancient race of super intelligent and peaceful aliens called Time Lords, who used to kind of watch over and police the entire universe. She had inquired as to why he was here, on earth, instead of on his home planet, but he clammed up and wouldn't give her any direct answers. She figured it was a sore subject and let it go. She supposed it wasn't much of her business, anyhow.

The Doctor eyed Laney warily as she sipped from her glass of water, thinking he probably should have left her where he found her. He didn't need to get any more innocent people involved in his alien shenanigans; but if something was after this girl and meant to harm her, he was obligated by his nature to help in any way he could.

Besides, he could tell there was something a bit odd about her, not because something was quite obviously after her; there was something else. Something in the way she looked into his eyes. Most people, when they look in another's eyes, they look right through them. All they focus on is the color. When she looked at him, she was looking into him, and seeing things no one else could see. Whether or not she understood what she was seeing was a different matter entirely. The way she reacted to her environment was fascinating as well. It was as if she viewed the world differently than those around her; on a higher level of comprehension, maybe.

He'd also noticed something else mildly unsettling about her. First of all, from the initial moment they met up until right now, she'd had varying degrees of headaches, which is alarming, especially for a human. Secondly, when she'd had her coughing fit in the control room of the Tardis, she'd expelled some sort of black substance from inside herself and onto her hands. If she'd noticed it, she made no sign. Probably just thought it was dirt. But he noticed. He noticed everything.

"Alright, here's what's going to happen."

The Doctor spoke after several minutes of contemplative silence while Laney enjoyed her H20, and watched him think.

"Hm?" she inquired.

"I'm going to run a full diagnostic scan on our little friend. See if the Tardis can pinpoint the technology. Then we'll know who's behind all this, or at least have a better idea."

He paused and Laney nodded. It sounded like a great idea to her. They were both dying to know what or who it was that had been keeping tabs on her, and what it was that they wanted.

"In the meantime, you need to go home and get some rest. You're not well."

Laney set her glass down with a loud thud. "Shit." She hissed, bringing her hands to her face. She'd forgotten all about home, school, and Megan, who was probably worried sick by now. She hadn't the faintest idea how long she'd even been here.

The Doctor smiled, aware of exactly what she was thinking about. "Not to Worry." He said, letting his great, big smile consume his face. "Space and Time machine, remember?"

He offered Laney his hand and she took it, allowing him to help her from her seat.

Guiding her back into the control room, he still hadn't let go of her hand. Normally, Laney would be extremely wary of physical contact, especially with a complete stranger. She had never been a touchy person; she couldn't be. Not since Becky. Skin to skin contact with other people left her too open to their feelings, and emotional distress. She rarely had visions anymore, like that night long ago, but every once in a while when people reached for her and she wasn't expecting it, she caught a flash of something. It was almost never anything she wanted to see.

The fact that the being currently holding her hand was a Time/Space travelling alien with two hearts made it even more odd that his touch comforted her, as opposed to making her uncomfortable. It made her feel good that he wanted to help her. She didn't have many friends, and it was nice to be aware that there were people out there who had the capacity to care.

Laney's hand fell cold as The Doctor released it, moving to the console of the Tardis. He typed in what she assumed were coordinates, and flew around the different sides of the control panel; flipping a switch here, pulling a lever there. A great wheezing noise filled the room, and over it, Laney yelled "Is there anything I can do to help?" He seemed to be having a bit of a hard time, and he was moving so fast her eyes could barely keep up. Smiling, he said "Sure. Press that blue button there."

Laney followed his instruction, and pressed down on the little button he pointed out. Shortly after doing so, the Tardis lurched this way and that, almost tossing Laney to the ground. "You may want to hold onto something!" the Doctor yelled, over the various sounds of the Tardis taking off. Before Laney could comply, there was yet another hard jolt, and she lost her already unsteady footing. Her hands shot out quickly in order to break her fall, but they didn't have to.

She was in The Doctor's arms before she knew what happened. After several moments there was one last hard knock and the Tardis stopped moving, all noises slowly fading away. Laney looked up into The Doctor's tired blue eyes and murmured a thank you. He just smiled, releasing her.

"Seems like I've been doing nothing but rescuing you since we met. You American girls are terribly high maintenance."

Laney mock glared at him and smacked him a good one on the shoulder. The Doctor laughed and pretended it hurt.

"I didn't ask you to save me that time, now did I?"

The doctor grinned and let that one go, placing his hand at the small of Laney's back and guiding her to the door of the Tardis, which he opened for her.

Laney gazed out into the street. It was daytime, which was definitely off-putting. They were right across the street from where she lived with by herself. Low Income student housing that her grandparents helped her pay for. She couldn't imagine how The Doctor had managed fit an entire space ship thingy in the middle of her street.

"Um, I guess the correct way to ask would be, _when_ are we, exactly?" She mused, still staring out the door.

"We're about 20 minutes after we originally left." The astonishment on Laney's face at his words amused The Doctor. It was all so very hard for humans to comprehend, at least at first.

"Wow." Laney said, stepping out into the street, still looking at her driveway. It felt like she'd been away for at least several hours. Megan wouldn't even know she'd been gone. No one would.

"You'll get used to it." The doctor called from behind her, and she turned around to say goodbye, but what she saw didn't make sense. The Doctor was standing just inside of a Phone Booth. A big, blue phone booth with "Police public call box" written in bold, white block lettering across the top. She pointed loosely at it, confused. The doctor wore his usual amused grin with his arms crossed over his chest.

"So, this is you…but how is it…?" She stammered, at a lost for words. Sensory overload could be the only appropriate description for her day. She was surprised her mind didn't collapse in on itself.

The Doctor merely waved and said "I'll see you soon, Laney Monette," and closed the door behind him.

The doctor leaned up against the threshold of the Tardis and let out a deep breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding. What had he gotten himself into? He'd promised himself, and promised all the people whose lives he would surely ruin in the future that after the Time War, after he destroyed his people to keep them from destroying all of reality; he promised himself he'd never become involved in anymore humans' lives. He told himself he'd continue on for eternity by himself, like he deserved to be. Nothing good ever came from him taking people along with him, they all ended up leaving, changing, getting hurt; turning into different people, all because of him. He didn't want to destroy anything else like he'd had to destroy the Time Lords and the Daleks.

Walking towards the console of the Tardis, who hummed happily at him, he shook his head, trying to convince himself to stop throwing a pity party. This girl needed his help, and so would other humans, and aliens, in the future. He couldn't go on removing himself from everything just because he was afraid he'd mess it up; not when he might be able to save Laney from whatever it was that was trying to harm her.

Besides, she made him laugh, smile, even. He hadn't smiled once, before today, since the end of the Time War. Not since his last regeneration. There hadn't been anything to make him smile. No hope of ever needing to laugh again. But she managed.

He needed to find out who wanted her, find out why, and find out why she was apparently ill. He'd help her if it was the last thing he did. She was worth it.

Laney walked into her house and dropped her bag on the floor by the door. Darkness permeated the space that was her home. Before she thought to switch on a light, she remembered her car was still at the school. Cursing under her breath she flung the door open, hoping to catch The Doctor before he took off. Maybe he'd give her a lift back to the college so she could drive it back.

The Tardis was gone from across the street, but her old black Plymouth Belvedere II was safe and sound in the driveway, where it hadn't been when she'd walked in.

Baffled, she walked towards it, plucking a note from the windshield and reading the barely legible scrawl upon it.

"Nice wheels." Was all that was written down. No explanation for how he'd gotten it here. She still had the keys in her purse.

All of this impossible stuff happening was definitely going to take some getting used to. In any case, she'd had enough for one day.

When Laney woke up in the morning, she hadn't completely convinced herself that yesterday's events with the elevator and the strange Doctor weren't a dream. Once she arrived at school however, she was quite certain that it couldn't possibly have been.

There was yellow tape blocking off the area where the lift had crashed, and a few bouquets of flowers around the perimeter. Laney tried not to stare as she walked by, taking the outer stairs up to the fourth floor to her history class. Bouquets weren't good news. Bouquets meant someone had died. If The Doctor was to be believed, and the little device that had been following her around caused the elevator to crash, then it was her fault. It was her fault someone was dead. Possibly someone she knew.

Her head was hurting. She could feel the death hanging heavy in the air around her, death, and the sadness from the ones the death, or deaths, had affected.

Laney rushed into her history class and grabbed Megan by the shoulder. She was getting dizzy.

A look of complete surprise pervaded Megan's face. "Laney? What's wrong?" she asked, worry evident in her usually chirpy voice.

"Please come with me." She panted. "I can't be here right now."

After Laney had followed Megan to her house, the two of them sat in Megan's bedroom with the T.V. murmuring dully in the background. Laney lay on her best friend's bed with a hand on her eyes while Megan sat engulfed by her big pink bean bag across the room. They had been sitting like that, in silence, for around ten minutes before Laney finally spoke.

"When the elevator crashed at the school yesterday, people died." Laney didn't pose it as a question; she already knew the answer.

Megan nodded, solemnly. "Yeah. Shelly McFee and Professor Brian Burns."

Laney exhaled loudly. No one she knew personally, not that that fact made the deaths any less tragic. Shelly had been in her French class…but not anymore. Laney felt sick all over again.

"What did they say the reason was for the accident?" Laney removed her hand from her face and turned to face her friend, who had an incredulous look sitting heavy on her features.

"Some kind of electrical error…how come you don't know any of this? It happened while we were both still at school. Didn't you see anything about it on the news?"

Sitting up and slinging her legs over the bed, while trying her hardest to fight away the last of the foggy ache from her brain and the growing nausea in her belly, Laney replied "No, I was…busy."

She didn't know what else to say. No point in trying to explain what happened to Megan. She was surprised her friend had even accepted the weirdness that was Laney's brain at all. Maybe because she'd been exposed to it when they were such young children.

"What do you mean, busy? You're never busy. We don't have lives." Megan kind of chuckled to herself, but the humor was lost on Laney, who was deep in thought at the moment.

"Do you ever feel like…" Laney didn't know exactly how to word the question she was intending to ask her best friend without sounding insane. "When we're at school, have you ever felt like, I don't know. Like someone is watching us?"

Megan stared blankly at Laney, absentmindedly squeezing a stuffed pokemon in her arms.

"Funny you should say something like that. These past few weeks I have kind of felt like there's someone else with us, even when we're alone."

Laney could tell by the look on Megan's face that she was concentrating; trying to remember.

"But if there was something watching us, wouldn't you be able to tell?"

Laney shook her head no. "That's not really how it works."

"Oh. Well, why do you ask, have you had funny feelings about it too?"

"No, I had no idea anything was going on until today." Laney got up and looked out Megan's bedroom window and into the front yard. She didn't know what for. To make sure there weren't any scorpion robots out there, or something.

"What do you mean?" Megan asked, suddenly freaked out. "What did you find out, is someone watching us?"

"I don't know about us." Laney replied, still glancing around Megan's yard. "I think they've mainly been watching me. You just happen to be there most of the time."

Megan stood and joined Laney at the window, pulling the blinds closed so no one could see them. Something told Laney that the thin little strips of plastic weren't going to deter whatever was after her.

"Laney, what's going on? You're really freaking me out." Panic permeated her voice as it filled Laney's ears. She felt it start to twinge inside herself, even though she was relatively calm.

After inhaling deeply and pushing the air back out of her lungs in the form of a deep sigh, she said "You know that weird guy that busted into our History class and said he was filling in for Vinny yesterday?"

Megan raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, why? Is he videotaping girls in the bathroom and selling it on the internet or something? God, that pig!" She looked disgusted.

Laney laughed and continued explaining. "Calm down, that's not it. But, well…he's definitely not a maintenance guy."

After Laney finished explaining yesterday's events to Megan to the best of her ability; which apparently wasn't sufficient, her friend stared at her for a moment, wide eyed. Laney hadn't meant to tell her anything at first, but in the end she figured that no matter what she tried to say was going to sound mental.

"Oh Sweetie." Her friend said, finally speaking. She raised a hand to Laney's forehead to check for fever, but Laney swatted it away. "I don't blame you for not believing me, it is pretty crazy." Laney said, fidgeting with her hands.

"He told you he could travel through time and fly around in space, and that creepy robots were watching you, and you believed him?"

"Not at first. I mean, look, I know it sounds insane but it makes sense, especially with the elevator crashing."

Megan continued to stare at her, incredulously. "Laney, you don't even know that guy, okay? Complete stranger. As in, Stranger Danger. He probably roofied you or something. You're lucky he didn't kidnap you! Why'd you even go with him?"

Laney shook her head and got up, going for her backpack. "Just forget about it. I'm going home. I'll text you later."

Megan got up to try and stop her. "Laney, don't be like that! It's not that I don't believe you! I just think you're really tired, then the elevator thing happened-"

Laney turned to Megan, gently removing her friend's hand from her arm. "It's fine. I don't blame you, and I'm not mad. I'll talk to you later."


	4. Non Linear

Days went by, and nothing happened; weeks, then a few months. Laney took her finals and finished out the semester. For a while after their initial conversation about The Doctor, Laney and Megan didn't speak much, but enough time had passed that neither of them really cared about it anymore. They were too good of friends to hold a grudge against one another for something silly. Megan just wrote it all off as Laney being stressed, in combination with her usual social anxiety.

Laney's health had improved, at least. She stopped having coughing fits and random dizzy spells, except for her usual physical contact induced episodes. Even her headaches had eased up just a smidge.

After 3 months of no contact with The Doctor, even Laney had started to believe that she'd maybe invented it all as a dissociative way to deal with all of the stressors in her life. She wanted him to be real, but he'd left her. He said he'd come back, and he hadn't. It made her a little sad. He'd come into her life, said he'd help her, and left her behind. Even though she was feeling better physically, she couldn't help but be a little down about it.

"I wish you wouldn't do that." Megan said, shooting a steely glance at Laney, who was currently leaning against the wall of Luigi's Pizza Palace and taking a drag from her cigarette. It was a breezy evening, but the wind did little more than shuffle the tepid air in circles around everyone. Megan had come outside to chide her, apparently.

"Yeah? Well I wish you and Jacob wouldn't play footsie under the table while we're eating." Laney exhaling a big cloud of blue-grey smoke into the twilit sky.

She'd been an on and off smoker since her late teens, but when she was under the weather she tended to abuse her vice a lot more often.

Megan blushed visibly, and snapped back at Laney "Well at least playing footsie isn't going to kill me."

Laney tossed her cigarette butt onto the ground and stomped it out with her left boot, exhaling her last puff. "Maybe not, but tanning will; and Melanoma kills faster than lung cancer."

Megan stared at her friend and bit her tongue. Laney was right, and she didn't have a good comeback anyway. She was kind of a habitual tanning bed freak. Laney smiled and patted her friend on the shoulder; a gesture that was meant to convey that their conversation was merely a play argument, she wasn't mad at Megan for chiding her bad habit. She just got tired of people telling her to quit smoking. Besides, in this day and age, everything is going to kill you, no matter how hard you tried to play it safe.

Laney and Megan strode back to the table to rejoin Jacob, who was currently inhaling his third slice of pizza. Megan was finishing her second and Laney was still picking at her first. It was odd behavior for her; usually she was just as enthusiastic about pizza as Jake was. She just hadn't had much of an appetite lately.

Jacob droned on and on about football and Megan hung on his every word like football in this town was actually a big deal. Laney kept rifling through her interior rolodex of excuses to leave and go home. She didn't want to be out right now; she wanted to hole herself up in her apartment and read a book. Or just go to sleep. She started zoning out, focusing on a push pin board in the corner of the restaurant full of business cards and local advertisements.

"Laney?" Hearing her name snapped her attention back to her friends. She hadn't even realized Megan had been speaking to her.

"Hm?"

"Are you planning on applying for a part-time job this summer?" Megan said, repeating herself.

Laney shrugged and replied that she didn't really know. Honestly, she didn't want to do anything remotely productive this summer. She may have been feeling physically better than usual, but she just didn't feel like going through the motions of finding a job. She didn't exactly need one anyways, her grandparents provided her housing and more spending money than she ever actually used. They weren't rich by any means; they were both retired and lived in the country, so they didn't have any other occupation for their extra money but to use it on their only granddaughter. Laney paid for what little classes she took with grants; she could take more classes in theory, if she really wanted to, but she never felt comfortable with the idea of student loans. After about another half hour of mindless conversation Laney excused herself, saying she was tired and wanted to go home.

"You sure?" Megan asked, worry present in her features. "Jake and I were thinking about seeing a movie later."

Laney smiled, hugging her friend goodbye. "You two go ahead, you don't need me tagging along with you everywhere."

Reluctantly, Megan and Jake waved Laney off as she got into her car. Driving home she felt a little guilty for not being a better friend, she didn't mean to push Megan away. Chalking it up to fatigue and mild depression; neither being new states of mind for her, she trudged up to her home and slid her key into the worn and weathered lock.

Laney dropped her bag on the table just inside the door and flipped the light switch upward, but nothing happened. She paused for a moment, wondering if the power had gone out. There was no reason for that to be the case...she didn't think it was supposed to rain tonight, and as far as she knew the bill had been paid. Tentatively, Laney moved around her home in the dark, fumbling for the next closest switch. After flipping it up and down for a few moments, willing a light to come on somewhere, she cursed under her breath and carefully began making her way toward her kitchen, where she kept a flashlight under the sink. She figured something was wrong in the fuse box, but it was all the way in the basement. No way was she going down there alone without electricity.

As she carefully maneuvered around her furniture sans lighting, she thought she heard a slight scraping noise. Stopping in her tracks and scanning what little of the room she could make out, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Except...Did the shadow by her bathroom just move? Laney's breath caught in her throat as she attempted to lower the volume of her aspirations. Was there someone here? Her front door had been locked, but she soon realized that meant nothing. She had plenty of windows and a backyard door. She continued staring at the shadows in the distance, willing them to stay put. Times like these were when she hated living alone the most. Nobody here to help her, or hear her scream if she was in trouble. She doubted what few of her neighbors there were would notice if she went missing.

After a few moments of careful silence, she let out a sizeable breath and figured the shadows and noises were just the wind outside coupled with her tired mind playing tricks on her. No need to be overly paranoid. Just as she was about to continue on her path, a large metallic thud resonated from the direction of the kitchen, making a sound that resembled canned goods hitting the floor and rolling, thrusting Laney's mind back into high alert. Making no further attempt to hide and quiet her breathing, she turned on her heel and made a dash for her front door. Okay, so maybe there had been a need for paranoia.

Somehow managing not to trip over anything in the dark, She grabbed her purse from the table and fumbled to get the lock open, not daring to look behind her or listen for more noises. It could have been a burglar, ghost, or stray animal; she didn't care what it was that had made the noise, she was getting out of there and booking it to wherever Megan and Jake were now.

"We've been waiting for you, Number 28."

Laney froze with her hand on the doorknob, goosebumps rising on her forearms. The voice had a creepy metallic edge, there was no way it had come from a human. No matter. She didn't care what it was, or what it said; she was getting out of there. Before she could finish opening her door, an electrified tingling sensation struck her arm. Instinctively she dropped her purse and grabbed the spot behind her elbow where the pain originated. It burned. Laney's mind was racing. Was there anything around her she could use as a weapon? She didn't even know what she was up against. She had a small utility knife in her purse, but she'd dropped it. That was no good to her now.

Slowly, still holding her arm where it hurt, she turned. With only light from a street lamp filtering in through the window, she couldn't quite tell what had been standing behind her. It looked vaguely humanoid, but with an odd shaped head, and it appeared to have some kind of shiny skin; maybe metal, or vinyl, or something.

"What do you want?" Her words came out flimsy and afraid. "You're breaking and entering-"

Red light emanated from a triangle shaped area on it's head that she assumed was its mouth as it spoke. "I've come to collect Number 28. You will accompany me now."

It was the same robotic cadence she'd heard coming from her kitchen. Was it a machine? She couldn't be sure. Maybe this was some kind of joke. Was it what had shocked her? How? She was confused, her arm hurt, and all at once she wished she'd stayed out with Megan and Jacob. Glancing down, she began to edge toward the table beside her front door.

"Uh, I don't know who you're looking for, but I don't think it's me. My name is Laney Monette."

It didn't appear to notice her grab the heavy round paperweight as it continued speaking. "You are Number 28, and father says its time for you to come home."

It reached a hand out to her, but what she saw didn't make sense. The arm she saw in the dim light from the window had skin on it...human skin. But the rest of it's body, or at least most of it, was metallic. It took a step towards her, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw it's face. The thing was horrible; one half of it's facial features were human, the other was robotic, with no nose and a kind of triangular speakerbox for a mouth, all of it gruesomely stitched and bolted together like a living, breathing, horrific quilt. The arm opposite it's human one didn't have a hand, just kind of a small opening that resembled a tiny cannon. That must of been how it had shot or shocked her or whatever it did.

One thing she was sure of was that wherever this monster robot thing came from, she had no interest in seeing. Trying once more to get out of this peacefully, Laney insisted she wasn't going with it. It didn't belong in her house, and she wanted it out. Her eyes widened as she heard what she could only assume to be its weapon charging, as blue light emanated from the hole where its hand was supposed to be.

"Then father says I must take you by force."

It lifted its arm as if to shoot, and in that instant all Laney could think to do was hurl the paperweight at it. She heard a thud like a car being dented as it made contact, and attempted to push past the monstrosity in her living room to get to her back door. Her offense clearly wasn't very effective, because another blast hit her in the back, taking the wind from her lungs. Her hands and knees met the floor and she cried out for the various parts of her body that were screaming at her.

She was just shy of the back door, if she could just outrun the robot or get it to stop somehow. Laney's body left the linoleum as the thing grabbed her already pained arm and pulled her to her feet. It remained silent, and looking into it's human eye, all she saw was nothing. The eye was blank, emotionless, and dead. She wasn't even sure it saw with it. A yelp escaped her as the thing closed its arms around her small frame and began walking for the back door. She kicked, struggled, and cried out in frustration, but it was getting her nowhere. It's grip wasn't loosening; it was too strong. Laney tried to think of anything she could do to get out of this. She couldn't move, had no weapons, and no one to help her. Suddenly, as it carried her down the hall, she realized this must have something to do with the little robotic bug-looking thing that had been following her. Whatever was looking for Laney had found her, and now this thing had come to take her away to some horrible place.

She became angry. Why had the Doctor left her? Surely he must be real, she can't have made it all up, there was a freaky Cyborg in her house currently kidnapping her. You can't exactly hallucinate that. The Doctor had promised he would help, said he'd figure out where the little robot had come from and help her find out who was following her. She thought he'd protect her.

In her frustration at him she kicked harder and screamed louder, but all that succeeded in was aiding her fatigue.

"That stupid Doctor with his stupid phone booth ship and his stupid pen light and his STUPID British accent!" She had been rambling so loudly that the fact that her captor had stopped moving didn't reach her attention until she heard a familiar voice call out "Its called a sonic screwdriver, actually."

Laney squinted. Her back door was open, and framed just inside the threshold was a man. "Doctor?" The word came out as a high pitched breath; an utterance of hope she willed to be true.

"That's Stupid Doctor to you, apparently." He moved toward her and her would be kidnapper, who immediately raised its weapon equipped arm towards him, compensating by holding her tighter with its other appendage. Laney squirmed in its grasp. She could feel the bruises she would have in the morning blossoming, provided she made it out of here alive.

"Remove yourself from my trajectory, please." Laney rolled her eyes. At least it was polite. The Doctor made no response, only pointed his sonic screwdriver at the hall light, causing it to flicker on. "Oh, have a look at you." The Doctor walked forward and gawked at the creature, which seemed stunned by the sudden illumination.

"Hm...s'pose that makes sense." He continued gazing at the thing, seemingly adding something up in his head. The Cyborg was having no more of it however, and once again raised his weapon at point blank to the Doctor, who didn't seem to notice. The noise of its hand cannon charging pervaded the air.

"Um...Doctor?!" Laney squeaked as the monsters grip tightened around her ribs once more.

"Oh. Right then." The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the thing's robotic eye, which was just a kind of glowing, circular panel, and in a second it forgot about both Laney and firing its weapon. Laney covered her ears. It was squealing and squealing this awful sound that was 20 times worse than nails on a chalkboard. Just after she'd squeezed her eyes shut from the pain in her ears, it ceased. Blinking, Laney looked around. The thing was in the floor of her hallway, no longer moving. Beside herself, she lept up and hugged the strange doctor hard around the middle, her face smashed into his leather jacket.

"Thank you so much!" Laney felt the man softly pat her shoulders before she pulled away.

"Ah, now you're all grateful. Just a moment ago you were slanderin' me up and down."

His playful grin flitted away just as soon as he'd put it in place when Laney punched him as hard as she could on the shoulder. "Hey! What was that for?"

Though she was still infinitely grateful for him saving her ass yet again, she couldn't forget how annoyed she'd been with his disappearance.

"What took you so long?! That thing could of murdered me! I thought you were some weird figment of my imagination for-" her rant was broken by him grabbing her hand and leading her out the backdoor into her yard, where the Tardis was sitting, boisterous as ever.

"You can yell at me later, right now we've got to get you to safety." She continued to mumble in protest as he opened the big blue door and pushed her inside, closing it tightly behind her. Laney gave up her futile utterances against him and sat down on the nearest semi comfortable looking space she could find, while the Doctor fumbled around with the ship's console.

A big tickle materialized somewhere between Laney's lungs and her throat, and she brought her fist to her mouth trying to cough it out. The Doctor glanced at her for a moment but said nothing, and continued typing coordinates into what looked something like a computer. The mild coughing fit brought to Laney's attention just how much her back still hurt, and her arm stung a bit as well. What little adrenaline her body produced for her benefit must have dissipated, because she felt awful.

After they were in the air, or whatever this thing flew through to get places, the Doctor knelt in front of Laney and looked her over. When his eyes caught the angry red marks on her arm, they narrowed, showcasing the multitude of little frown lines around them. Laney said nothing and tried to remain calm as he took her arm in hand and turned it around, trying to get a better look. No need to let him know she was a complete freak of nature just yet, even if he himself was an alien. She'd held his hand once before and nothing happened, she even remembered feeling good about the comfort his touch brought her. Maybe it would be okay this time too.

After a few moments she removed herself from his grasp as gently as possible. The contact was creating an uncomfortable and shadowy feeling in the corners of her mind. She could feel her face fall as she realized the other time he'd touched her must have been some kind of fluke. She hadn't wanted it to be. The sense of normalcy it brought her was unfamiliar and very appreciated. The doctor made no mention of the gesture, though she was sure he was curious. Hopefully he's chalk it up to pain from the burn.

"The Cyborg did this?"

Laney didn't fail to notice the concern she saw in his eyes as she responded in the affirmative and told him of the wound on her back also. As soon as she was done speaking, he left the room and came back a moment later with a few multi-colored capsules and a large glass of water, which she was particularly excited about. She had no idea how thirsty she'd been until she saw it.

After she gobbled the pills down, the Doctor quirked an eyebrow at her. "Aren't you even going to ask what they were for?"

With a blank stare, she shrugged. "Pills aren't really a big deal for humans, we take them for pretty much everything. Besides, I trust you. If you were going to drug or murder me you probably would've done it already."

The Doctor nodded, surprised at her sensible response. "Fair enough. Either way, those will help with the pain, and the burns are very minor. They should heal just fine."

Laney nodded and asked him if he would mind bringing her more water. By the time she was done guzzling down another big glass, her wounds were already starting to feel better. Even the pain of a headache she'd developed was fading fast.

"Thank you, for the pills and the water. And saving me, again."

The Doctor smiled and sat down in front of her. "I told you I'd be back, didn't I?"

Laney frowned. "Not that I'm complaining, but what took you so long? It's been three months, I didn't think you were coming back. Hell, part of me didn't even think you were real." When he frowned and told her he didn't know it had been that long, she kind of felt bad for guilt tripping him, but hey, she'd waited for him three months. The least he could do was feel a little bad about it.

"The Tardis and I have never been real' great about the whole continuity thing. I experience time a lot differently than humans, or any species really, so it's easier for me to lose track."

She said nothing, waiting for him to continue his explanation.

"We don't really operate in a linear manner, obviously; and she doesn't always put my exact intentions into action. She's got a mind of her own, quite literally. But she's never steered me wrong, and obviously she got me to you just in time."

Laney coughed a few times into her hand, accepting his explanation. She wouldn't give him a hard time about it any more. Him taking so long had obviously been out of his control, and besides, she hadn't gotten injured seriously in his absence anyways. Up until tonight, nothing noteworthy had happened while he was gone. Just the overwhelmingly banal events that had always made up her life as a whole.

"So, where are we going?" Laney smiled, hoping he wouldn't blame her for being a tad out of sorts about the whole thing.

The Timelord's eyes lit up as he sprang to his feet, holding his hand outstretched toward her. He looked like a kid on Christmas every time he smiled; Laney found it very odd, taking into consideration his more than numerous years in existence. She was growing to like seeing that smile.

"I believe you mean where have we _arrived_. And the answer is a surprise." He was still beaming at her.

Shockingly, there wasn't much of a reaction when there hands met and he led her to the door once again. Only this time, he was taking her to the outside. To a suprise, he'd said. The only reaction his hand wrought was a bit of a mild tingling at the back of her mind, coupled with a few goosebumps. No visions, no bad feelings. Or good feelings, either. Everything inside her mind was her own, and it was so refreshing.

"You ready?"

Laney smiled in spite of herself and nodded. She was excited that she was still holding his hand, and nothing bad was happening. More than that, she was ecstatic to see what was on the other side of the door and to start her first adventure with the odd and wonderful man.


End file.
